Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin In The Sun

"What Happens to a Dream Deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun. Or fester like a sore– And then run?" (Hughes). One of the most important aspects of living is having a dream. To have a purpose and an ambition to chase can make the difference between a successful life and one that ultimately has no meaning to it. Are dreams good or bad though and should we, as people, really follow them if they have the potential to hurt others? Take Adolf Hitler, for instance; he had a dream for a perfect world in his eyes and as a result of that dream he nearly eradicated an entire race and religion, causing mass destruction. In A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, the Younger family obtains the life insurance check for the death of Walter

The plant represents the dream that Mama has for her family, and the constant care of her plant relates to her care and love for her family and her attention to their dreams. Through Mama, Hansberry is able to show that people should follow their dreams. Even though “this little old plant . . . ain’t never had enough sunshine or nothing,” Mama is completely dedicated to the plant and lovingly tends it every single day in the hopes that it will one day be able to flourish like the dream she has of getting a grandeur house to be able to provide a better life for her children and grandchild (Hansberry 1.1.292). Mama knows that if she can just keep taking great care of the plant and help it survive, then she can do the same with her family too. An instance that supports the claim that the plant symbolizes Mama’s dreams is when Mr. Lindner comes to meet the family to offer them money to not move into his white neighborhood. When told by her daughter, Beneatha, Mama responds by being visibly concerned by this news and she tends to her plant and asks whether Lindner threatened the family (2.3.331). The way Mama carefully tends to and shows concern of her plant shows the correlation of concern to her dream for her and the family to have a better life. Later when Beneatha is told by Mama that she is packing the plant up safe for the move, she exclaims, “that raggedy-looking

Walter Younger, for example, is one of the most perplexing characters in the play. Walter is a 35-year-old African-American man who serves as a husband, father, brother and son. Walter’s main goal through the play is his determination to prove to everyone he is a man and can provide for his family: “I got to change my life, I’m choking to death baby” (1.1.279). The only way Walter feels he can provide for himself and his family is by using the life insurance money from his father’s death to invest in a liquor store. No one in the family besides Walter and his wife believe this is investment can be beneficial. Nonetheless Mama gives Walter a portion of the money for the investment. Instead of just using the money given, Walter also steals his sister’s portion of the check to invest, and ultimately extinguishes both him and his sister’s dreams when the money is stolen by his “friend.” This is a prime example of dreams hurting other people. Walter’s pride and ambition undermines and jeopardizes the entire family’s future and he can never take that back. Walter’s motivation for achieving his dream is a mixture of ambition, greed, and love he has for his family. On one hand, Walter longs for a better life than what he currently has. He craves respect, self-satisfaction, and fears for his future. “Walter Lee has internalized…a kind of frontieresque